Spirit Compass: Where there is movement there is change, is a dance installation created by Lucy Suggate & Collaborators. Commissioned by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and Siobhan Davies Dance, London as part of the CONTINUOUS Network programme, the work premiered at BALTIC on 18 October 2019.
In August 2020, six months after the last presentation in this tour at Nottingham Contemporary, Lucy Suggate conducted a series of conversations with some of the people involved in the project. These conversations capture reflections and memories of the experience of the work from a variety of viewpoints, offering an archive of the work and an understanding of how Spirit Compass as a layered piece spills beyond the performative event.
Conversation 1
In this first episode, Lucy is joined by Lauren Wright, Programme Director of Siobhan Davies Dance and Katie Hickman, Performance Curator at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Throughout the edited conversation they reflect upon experiences and the process of making Spirit Compass happen.
Conversation 2
In the second episode of Spirit Compass One Year On, Lucy is joined by Ramsay Burt, Professor of Dance History and Director of the Dance, Drama and Performance Studies Research Institute at De Montfort University. Ramsay and Lucy discuss the some of the key ideas in Spirit Compass and Ramsay’s experience as an audience member.
About
Lucy Suggate is a dance artist and choreographer recognised for her articulate and engaging solo performances as well as group installations informed by elements of synchronicity, cooperation and believing performance to be a communal act.
Her work is rooted in a movement practice which is an ongoing inquiry into the perceptual and physical expansion that occurs when engaged in durational moving and thinking. This work is often supported by sound and music that accelerates the process of altered states encouraging the body, the performer, into heightened states of awareness, availabilityand articulation – it’s within this space that new constellations, ideas, patterns and possibilities emerge through the sifting.
Support
This series has been made possible with support and funding from Surf the Wave’s Curatorial Voice Programme.
Credits
Sound Editing - Sarah Bouttell
Musician: Tom Page
Soundcloud thumbnail image: Spirit Compass at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art | Dance artists: Jamila Johnson-Small, Stephanie McMann, Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, Isabella Oberländer, Claricia Parinussa, Rowdy SS, Lucy Suggate | Credit: Rob Harris
For full performance credits visit the Spirit Compass webpage